Santa's Magic
by Serendipithy
Summary: When Ino pushes Sakura towards getting a man during the holidays, Sakura does it for the money. It is Christmas Eve though, and, with a helping of Santa's good fortune, there just may be love. SasuSaku. Oneshot. AU.


**Title: **Santa's Magic

**Summary: **When Ino pushes Sakura towards getting a man during the holidays, Sakura does it for the money. It is Christmas Eve though, and, with a helping of Santa's good fortune, there just may be love. SasuSaku. Oneshot. AU.

**A/N: **In case you did not know, a metro is like a subway which is like a bus (except underground and much, much faster.) It's used often by people in the Washington D.C. area (capital of the US). I dunno if the word "Metro" used elsewhere. xD I was inspired today when I was riding on the Metro with my family to see the National Christmas Tree in D.C. (and to see the huuuuge bonfire that warmed my ears up.)

ALSO. I'M HOPPING ON THE BANDWAGON AND MAKING A FANFICTION RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMASSS. Because obviously that's what everyone does instead of celebrating it with their family. :]

LAST ALSO. The title has almost nothing to do with the fic, if not for the holiday time period going on. :3

**Disclaimer: **Idea from something I thought of today while on the subway. Characters by Kishimoto.

* * *

"Ino hurry up! We're going to miss the next bus!" Panting, Sakura and Ino sprinted towards the metro station, making it just as the metro doors opened. They ran inside and plopped themselves onto some nearby seats. The metro was fairly empty this late in the night, especially since it was Christmas Eve.

Both girls were headed towards Konoha's town center, which was a twenty minute drive from their area. Since the traffic (not to mention the lack of parking spots once they arrived) would have been a terrible hassle to deal with, both girls agreed that taking the metro would be much more convenient.

Their destination would take nine stops, though, so they had plenty of time to chat on the metro.

Chatting with Ino sometimes turned into an interesting situation.

This was one of those times.

"Hey Sakura! Why don't we play truth or dare?"

Sakura just stared at her friend.

"Really Ino? We're both 21 and old enough to— legally— enter a bar. Do tell me: _why_ would we play an immature game such as truth or dare?"

"Uhhh… Because it's Christmas?"

Sakura failed to see her friend's logic, and voiced her thoughts.

"Fine Sakura, but we should at least get you to go out on a date with a guy before this year ends. How about this: if you write your phone number in huge font and display it to the people waiting at the next stop, I'll give you five dollars."

"And if I don't?"

"Nothing happens, _and_ you won't have the possibility of getting a blind date with some hot guy."

"Ino, you _know_ I could care less about dating right now, but the money is tempting. I could easily change my cell phone number anyways— you're the only one that actually calls me."

"That, Sakura, is because you need a life… outside of your work. So, what will it be?"

Sakura just rolled her eyes. It was true that even she considered herself a workaholic, but it wasn't like she was overly obsessive about her work. Sakura attended high school reunions and ensured that she had sufficient amounts of sleep… most of the time. Still, there was nothing to lose from playing along with Ino's little game. Nothing bad could result from it, right? She could always change her phone number, just like she had said to Ino.

It was certainly worth a shot.

"Fine, I'll go along with your little game—" At this, Ino grinned, "—but I'll only show it for _one_ stop. That's it."

"One stop is all I'm asking for— the next stop is the most popular stop on the metro you know."

Crap, Sakura had forgotten about that _tiny_ fact.

"And you'd better find a pen and a sheet of paper quickly— we're arriving at the next stop in less than a minute."

Hastily, Sakura pulled out a pen from her purse. Just where could she find a piece of paper?

"Here." Ino handed Sakura a blank sheet of paper. Sakura looked at her friend suspiciously.

"Is it just me or _did you plan this_?"

Ino just shrugged sheepishly, ignoring Sakura's momentary glare. Sakura sighed, jotting down her cell phone number onto the paper.

The metro arrived at the next stop—the Hokage Tower, a memorial for ones who died from the Third Great War.

Turning her back towards the window, Sakura hesitantly placed the sheet of paper for others to see. Ino eagerly looked out the window to see if anyone would write down Sakura's number.

To Ino's disappointment and Sakura's relief no one seemed interested in copying down the number. When the metro beeped, signaling that the doors would close, Ino turned around and crossed her arms across her chest.

"This sucks."

Sakura only laughed as Ino handed her five dollars.

* * *

The view was breathtaking…

… until Ino pointed out that the tree had some kind of hump on one side, which made it look like some kind of deformed camel.

Then they just burst out laughing and couldn't look at the tree with its beautiful lights seriously without snickering.

After the two girls walked around the gigantic tree for a few minutes, admiring the mini trees and the mini toy trains surround it, Ino departed, saying she was going to meet up with her boyfriend Shikamaru.

"He said he was even going to take me out to dinner!"

"Wait seriously? Ino, it's Christmas Eve. It's almost impossible for you to find an open restaurant."

"I know! It looks like Shikamaru actually _put effort_ into the date this time!"

Sakura wanted to point out that it was more likely that Ino had threatened her boyfriend, but Ino had already left to find him.

She only shook her head and went over to the crowd on the other side of the field, curious as to what they were staring at.

As she made her way over, she saw that it was some sort of bonfire. Carefully maneuvering her way through the crowd, she managed to find a spot in the front right next to the fence.

Looking at the bonfire with her face partially aglow, Sakura watched the tiny sparks flying off the wood rise up with the smoke and the chilly breeze in the night.

The warm, fuzzy feeling she got made her think that maybe, _maybe_ having a man in her life wouldn't be so bad after all.

It was at that moment that her cell phone began to vibrate.

Taking the phone out of her purse, she was surprised to have received a text at this time, considering the lack of contacts in her phone.

… _Could it be?_

The phone number was unfamiliar, but the message gave her a clue.

_To: Sakura Haruno_

_From: Unknown_

_Message:_

_I saw your number at the metro station._

_What were you thinking?_

_-Sasuke U._

Sasuke? Was the person who just texted her _Sasuke Uchiha_?

They had been acquaintances in high school, granted that such meetings were through their mutual friend Naruto Uzamaki. They had probably greeted one another a grand total of three times in their whole high school lives, practically making them strangers.

She wasn't surprised Ino hadn't noticed their high school heartthrob in the throng of people at the metro stop. It was quite dark underground, and Sasuke had always preferred to wear dark colors from what she had observed.

Her phone vibrated again.

_To: Sakura Haruno_

_From: Unknown_

_Message:_

_Meet me at the Hokage's Tower in fifteen minutes_.

Sakura had no idea what prompted her to even _listen_ to this man who she barely knew, but she felt that— for today— she could take a blind leap of faith. Texting Ino saying that she would be leaving early, Sakura headed back towards the metro station.

* * *

Getting off of at the stop, Sakura looked around. There was a homeless man sitting on one of the benches, but other than him no one else was around. It was getting late and anyone who wanted to see the tree had probably already headed over to the town center.

Sakura went up the escalator…

… and saw Sasuke waiting for her.

She made her way over, a question that had been in her head during the metro ride on the tip of her tongue.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

Sasuke smirked.

"You don't. But it's Christmas and I doubt you believe I could do anything to harm you."

Sasuke grabbed her hand as they made their way up the escalator leading up to the Hokage Tower. Before she knew what was happening Sasuke had intertwined their fingers. Sakura gave a small smile.

"Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned his back to face her.

"Merry Christmas."

"Hn."

**/end./**

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**A/N: **NOOOOOOOOOO. I didn't make it in time. I was attempting to finish this fic before Christmas in my area. I failed. At least I basically wrote the whole thing in two hours, give or take a few distractions. (mmmm pomegranate juice.)

But now that I have the time, I'll explain more into how I got this idea. I was riding waiting for the metro with my family when another metro line (there are different colored lines for different areas and stops) stopped. I saw random people staring at me so naturally I stared back at them. Then I got this thought: _what if there were two people, maybe strangers, who met their match through a passing meeting?_ At first I was going to have Sasuke be a complete stranger but then that wouldn't be very safe would it? Sakura would _never_ go out and meet some random kid (or maybe old man) who texts her. So I made them acquaintances from the past that really could have been strangers altogether.

Huge author's note aside, **review ****please?** One thing I really want to know is if it was too cliché. D:


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